MICROMAX LAUNCHING YU AT VERY LOW COST WITH STUNNING FEATURE

MICROMAX LAUNCHING YU AT LOW VERY COST WITH STUNNING FEATURE 

The phone is definitely going to appeal to millions of Indians, as it checks most of the boxes that people want. It is dual Sim, has expandable storage and comes with decent 2GB RAM, which means it is not going to stutter even with some heavy applications running.
 The phone has a removable back panel that has slightly rounded edges and a soft matte finish. Micromax refers to the finish as 'Moonstone Grey' and it does remind us of the OnePlus One although the similarity is more in the grey colour than in texture. The power key is placed at the right edge while the volume rocker sits at the left side. The keys are made of plastic and offer decent tactile feedback.

Micromax's new Yu brand of Cyanogen OS-based smartphones was unveiled on Thursday with the launch of Yu Yureka. The smartphone, priced at Rs. 8,999, will go up for registrations via Amazon on Friday (2pm IST), and it will start shipping in the second week of January.

Early adopters will get a leather back cover worth Rs. 999 free. Notably, the company is also touting "free replacement or repair" at the user's doorstep. The Yu Yureka (AO5510) smartphone runs on a custom-build of Cyanogen OS, Cyanogen OS 11, what Rahul Sharma, co-founder of Micromax, calls the "temple of customisation" and "Android on steroids", boasting of the "thousands of features over and above stock Android."

Micromax's Yu Yureka smartphone features dual-SIM support, with slots for Micro-SIM cards (4G+3G). It bears a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display with a pixel density of 267ppi and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The smartphone notably also features Cat. 4 4G LTE connectivity with up to 150Mbps download speeds and 50Mbps upload speeds, apart from Band 40 and Band 3 support.

It runs on a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC (MSM8939), coupled with Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The Yu Yureka bears a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor CMOS sensor rear autofocus camera with an f/2.2 aperture and flash. A front-facing 5-megapixel fixed-focus camera is also onboard.

The Yureka comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB), and sports a 2500mAh Li-Po battery claiming talk time up to 8 hours, standby time up to 310 hours, video playback time of up to six hours, and gaming up to 4 hours. 

The Yu Yureka measures 154.8x78x8.8mm. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, Micro-USB, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Onboard sensors include an accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and gyroscope.

The Cyanogen OS 11 build is based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat, and an Android 5.0 Lollipop-based build is promised.

At Rs 8,999, the YU Yureka phone seems to be a really good deal if you're looking for a phone that offers a good combination of modern hardware and software that offers a higher level of customization. It is also the only phone besides Xiaomi Redmi Note 4G and Nokia Lumia 638 to offer 4G at a sub-Rs 10,000 price.

The phone would appeal even more to developers and contributors to the Cyanogen project as it will come with an unlockable boot loader and the warranty will be honoured even if the phone is rooted. Micromax will also offer free replacement or repair at the consumer's doorstep.

Do wait for our full review before buying the phone, when it is made available for sale in January.